Title: Supportive Parent
Fandom: FAKE
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Ryo, Bikky.
Rating: PG
Setting: During the manga and after Vol. 7.
Summary: Bikky’s first report card was pretty bad, but his grades have gone up since then.
Word Count: 911
Content Notes: Nada.
Written For: Challenge 343: Card.
Disclaimer: I don’t own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.



The first of Bikky’s report cards Ryo saw had been disappointing, and that was putting it mildly. It had mostly consisted of D grades, with one C and a couple of Fs. Seeing the way his foster son nervously shuffled his feet, avoiding looking at him, Ryo had swallowed his disappointment, not letting it show. Really, it wasn’t the boy’s fault that he hadn’t had much in the way of support in the past, plus he’d just recently lost his dad and was still grieving. Wasn’t this partly why Ryo had wanted to give the boy a home in the first place?

Instead of criticism, he’d given his foster son a hug.

“Don’t worry about this, Biks, it’s not the end of the world. You’ve had a rough few months, it’s hardly surprising that your grades are lower than you might’ve hoped. You’ll do better next time.”

“You’re not mad at me?” Bikky’s voice was a bit muffled against his foster father’s shoulder. Ryo let him go and smiled at him.

“No. I know how hard it’s been for you, losing your dad, moving to a new neighbourhood, changing schools. It was bound to affect your grades, and that’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

Bikky ducked his head. “They weren’t very good before either,” he admitted. “I used to skip classes a lot.”

“But you don’t now, and I’m going to help you as much as I can. If there’s anything you don’t understand, ask your teachers, or ask me. I’ll bet by your next report card we can at least get rid of those Fs. Right?”

Standing up straighter, bolstered by the unexpected encouragement, Bikky grinned. “Yep! No more Fs, I promise. I’ll work harder in all my classes.”

“I know you will. Now, how about some ice cream to make up for your disappointment?”

“Ice cream? Yay!”

When Bikky’s next report card arrived, the Fs were indeed gone. Now there were two Ds, a D+, and the rest were all C or C+. Naturally, that success required a big celebration, with pizza and ice cream.

So things continued, with each report card showing some improvement over the last, and being accompanied by a celebration. Bikky still grumbled about having to do homework, because kids always did, but Ryo was strict enough to make sure he got it done, and he took the time to explain anything the boy was struggling with, even when it meant having to research the subject himself.

Hard work paid off, the Ds disappeared, and one or two Bs started to pop up among the various C grades, until at last the Bs outnumbered the Cs, and the only C- was for French.

Ryo shrugged that off. “Not everyone can be good at languages. What matters is that you’re trying.”

“French just won’t stick in my head,” Bikky sighed. “At least next year I can drop it, take something else instead. I mean, it’s not like I’ll ever go to France.”

“Even if you do, I think the French people probably speak our language way better than most Americans speak theirs,” Ryo joked.

Bikky’s final report card before he graduated from high school contained mostly B grades, a couple of Cs, and three As, in English, Chemistry, and Biology.

“What’re you doing?” Bikky asked, coming in to find Ryo with a bunch of papers spread out across the kitchen table. “Something to do with work?”

Ryo looked up with a smile. “No, just looking through your old report cards. You’ve come such a long way in the past few years.”

Leaning over his foster father’s shoulder, Bikky looked at the cards, laid out in order, the abysmal first one on the left and the most recent on the right.

“I was so scared when I brought home that first one. I thought maybe you’d yell at me, or even kick me out because I was so useless. But you just hugged me and told me it was okay, and then we had ice cream.”

“You remember that?”

“’Course I do; it made a big impression on me. You always said you knew I could do better if I just had the chance, and I was so determined not to let you down.”

“And you never did. Look at this!” Ryo pointed to Bikky’s most recent report card. “Three As!”

“I couldn’t have done it without you, I hope you know that. I still suck at French though.”

Ryo laughed. “So do I. The only reason I can speak Japanese as well as English is because both languages were used at home when I was a kid.”

“Not like you’ll need French any more than I will,” Bikky pointed out. “Like you told me years ago, we can’t all be good at it.”

“Yeah. You’ll be graduating in a few days.”

“I know. My schooldays are almost over; it’s hard to believe.” Bikky flopped into one of the other chairs at the table.

“Next stop college.”

Bikky pulled a face. “Assuming I can get a basketball scholarship anywhere.”

“With all the scouts who’ve been watching you play over the last couple of years? I believe in you, Biks. I did when you were ten and I do now, more than ever. Believe in yourself.”

“I do, I just want you to be proud of me.”

“I am, and when that scholarship does come through, we’ll celebrate with ice cream, okay?”

Laughing, Bikky nodded. “It’s a deal.”


The End